Briefs: Ford's Hybrid Hiccup

Rebates have been a part of the car business since Lee Iacocca proclaimed in the 1980s, "Buy a car, get a check." They're now cropping up in an unlikely place--hybrids. Spooked after unsold Escape hybrid SUVs started piling up this winter, Ford is offering incentives of as much as $1,000 in an effort to goose sales of the $27,515 vehicle. In Los Angeles, where hybrid drivers get access to car-pool lanes, Ford is offering 0% financing on the Escape, the first hybrid made by a U.S. automaker.

Ford isn't the only one having trouble selling larger hybrids, which get about 30...

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